Higher Education in India

Friday, July 24, 2015

Among the host of new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) that have struggled to attract top rankers, there is an outlier --- IIT Hyderabad. Top rankers are choosing this seven-year-old IIT due to its innovative curriculum, freedom to do research right from the first year, and one of the best student-faculty ratios among all IITs. Above everything else, it offers a better placement ecosystem than most new IITs.

Started at the same time as eight other IITs (2008-09), IIT-Hyderabad is sprinting towards joining the league of old IITs. The number of top 1,000 rank holders joining IIT-Hyderabad has trebled to 20 this year from only seven last year. This is significant, considering the number of top 1,000 JEE rank-holding students has remained more-or less the same for older IITs like Roorkee and Kharagpur with 40 and 110 students, respectively .

Surya Teja (635th JEE advanced rank holder in 2013) and Goutham Veeramachaneni (632nd JEE advanced rank holder in 2014), both pursuing computer science, chose Hyderabad over older IITs like Kharagpur, Guwahati and Roorkee. Both wanted to be in a city --- close to the startup community and home to companies that promise good placement and internship opportunities. “I got through IIT-Bombay and Delhi but did not get computer science. Hence it had to be Hyderabad for me as I wanted to be close to startups,“ said Veeramachaneni, who intends to turn into an entrepreneur soon after graduation.

Being a small institute has helped students at Hyderabad build a close-knit network with peer and faculty. Teja was pulled towards this IIT primarily because of its faculty-student ratio at 1:12, better than almost all the IITs. Comparatively, the ratio at IIT-Delhi and Bombay is about 1:15. “Like most aspiring engineering students, I too did my homework and found that Hyderabad had the best faculty-student ratio. Also, Hyderabad is a bigger urban centre than Roorkee or Guwahati so the chances of getting good placement and internship offers are high,“ said Teja.

There are other factors. IIT-Hyderabad is gaining from proximity to the international airport besides a rise in supply of apartments to fulfil demand from professionals. “New organisations are setting up offices in Hyderabad. The surrounding ecosystem would enable these organisations to hire locally and attract students to settle in Hyderabad,“ said Ruchika Pal, India practice leader, global mobility at Mercer. Availability of housing, schooling and airport connectivity will enable these, she added.

Focused heavily on research, IIT-Hyderabad has been able to draw young faculty to its campus. P Rajalakshmi, who is in her 30s, hails from Tamil Nadu. She has a PhD in communication systems, and joined IIT-H in 2009. She is very clear she does not want move to any of the other IITs --- not even IIT-Madras.

“The research opportunities offered by IIT-Hyderabad are on par with any of the older IITs. Being a smaller IIT, the thrust and freedom in carrying out research is greater than old IITs,“ said Lakshmi. IIT-H has 110 laboratories, of which 50 are exclusively for research. IIT-Hyderabad has close to 150 faculty members (excluding the visiting and emeritus faculty) with a student strength of about 1,800.

“IIT-H has recruited good young faculty at a rapid rate and has started constructing the new campus. They have also innovated with the curriculum,“ said IIT-Madras Director, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, who is the mentor for IIT-H. Nearly 80% of faculty members have at least one sponsored research or consultancy project, added IIT-H Director, UB Desai. Till date, the institute has be en involved in 238 sponsored research and consultancy projects.“We believe we should do new things that older IITs are not doing; simultaneously, do well what the older IITs are doing,“ Desai added.

IIT-H is slowly moving up in terms of ranks too. “The opening rank of top 1,000 students in 2014 was 632 compared to this year opening rank of 534,“ Desai said. This young IIT has also structured its curriculum in such a way that it gives its students more choice. IIT-H offers what is known as `fractal academics' to all its BTech students. They are provided with more choices on topics they want to pursue outside their core area.

Working on the lines of the PM's Make in India initiative, the institute has started the first-of-its-kind DigiFab laboratory for 3D printing. “We are the only institute in India to offer this lab --- perhaps the only institution in the world to offer it to first-year students. The DigFab lab equips students with future manufacturing technology,“ said Desai.

Students at IIT-H can also pursue a double major, wherein they get a BTech degree in two disciplines. It also has a BTech in engineering science with a specialisation in any of its core areas. Under this, a student in the first two years does basic courses in math, physics, chemistry and the different fields of engineering. In the last two years, the student specialises in any field of his or her choice.

By August 2015, IIT-Hyderabad is targeting 500 PhD students, 450 MTech and MPhil students among others, besides approximately 900 BTech students.

Thursday, July 09, 2015

Indian Institute of Science, (IISc) Bangalore, has emerged No. 5 in a ranking of 404 universities in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) region. This is the first time any Indian educational institution has broken into the top 10 of the rankings published by London-based QS, previously known as Quacquarelli Symonds.

This is the first time IISc has submitted data for the QS ranking. In 2014, IISc did not formally provide the data, and was ranked 13. When a university does not provide data, QS sources data available from websites, employers and peers.
However, the clear leader in the QS BRICS university rankings, released in Delhi on Wednesday, is China. Tsinghua University, Peking University and Fudan University from India’s northern neighbour occupy the top three ranks in the QS survey. Russia’s Lomonosov Moscow State University is at No. 4, followed by IISc. In total, there are 110 Chinese universities among the top 400 and 67 among the top 200. For India, the corresponding numbers are 94 and 31.

“India has seen a rise of more than 50% in the number of institutions listed in the latest ranking of the top 200 universities in BRICS countries,” QS said in its ranking booklet. “The Indian Institute of Science has come straight into the ranking in the top five in the first year in which it has submitted a full set of data.”

“We are considered the best research-oriented university. It feels good to be in the top 10 list among BRICS universities, but we would like to be in the top 100 list of world university ranking,” said Govindan Rangarajan, chairman of division of interdisciplinary research at IISc.

Including IISc, there are five Indian institutions in the top 20. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi is at the 13th rank, same as last year. IIT-Bombay, at 16th place, dropped one place from last year. IIT-Kanpur at 18th place and IIT-Madras at 20th place are the others in the top 20 of the rankings.

The University of Mumbai has made the maximum progress in the top 100 list. It jumped from 68th position last year to 58 this year. The University of Calicut progressed nearly 100 places to reach the 100-110 bracket from the previous 200-plus bracket. Similarly, Aligarh Muslim University and the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, have made significant progress from the outside-200 list to 110-120. After ranking the top 100 institutions, QS gives ranking in brackets of 10.

Balvinder Shukla, vice-chancellor of privately run Amity University, said Indian universities can enter the top 200 list, provided they supply enough data to the ranking agency. Amity has been ranked in the 141-150 bracket, the same as last year. “Structured data supply, improvement in research papers, and its publication, are getting attention of academicians in India of late, and they have realized that by doing so, their own brand value will grow internationally,” she said.

Karthick Sridhar, vice-chairman of Indian Centre for Academic Rankings and Excellence, which helped QS in India in the ranking process, said more Indian universities participated in the ranking process this year and gave required information leading to better performance. “If the trend continues, then their ranking shall certainly improve in the world university rankings, but Indian universities need to better their performance in two key areas — academic reputation and employer reputation, other than research paper publications,” he said.

No Indian university features in the separate rankings of top 200 world universities, published by QS, or Times Higher Education, another international ranking agency in London

Monday, July 06, 2015

Australia is again emerging as a popular destination for Indian students going overseas for higher education with enrolments during the first four months this year having jumped to over 48,000 as compared to nearly 37,000 during the same period last year, according to official government figures released recently. India remains at second place after China in sending students to Australian universities.

The number of Indian students in Australia during January-April this year stood at 48,311 as compared to 36,964 during the same period last year. The sector where enrolments rose was higher education where the number was 25,439 as compared to 17,694 last year. Enrolments in the vocational education and training sector (VET) from India during the same period jumped from 16,772 last year to over 18,350 this year. “Australia offers a world-class, high-quality education for students across the world with eight Australian universities in the global top 100. Australia’s vocational education system is highly respected internationally, with close links to industry, and a high proportion of graduates gaining employment. Five Australian cities also make the top 30 student cities to live in in the world, so Indian students can enjoy the great lifestyle that Australia offers,” a spokesperson for the Australian high commission in Delhi said.

The 2014 International Student Survey in Australia found that over 88% of Indian students were satisfied with their overall education experience, above the average of students from other countries. “Indian students contribute to a vibrant and culturally-diverse Australia.

International education fosters inter-cultural understanding and creates the people-to-people links that underpin Australia’s research, trade, investment and social engagement with the world,” the Australian high commission spokesperson said.

The option of a fast track to permanent residence for international students is probably the most important reason for Indian students to choose Australia as a campus destination for higher studies. “After completion of studies, students can apply for subclass 485 visa category, which enables them to work in Australia full-time for a period of 18 months to four years (depending on which level of studies they have undertaken) along with an option of applying for permanent residency,” said Ravi Veeravalli, principal consultant, Star Global Education Alliance, a consultancy focused on Australian education and migration services. He added that India has been upgraded to assessment level 1 under the streamlined visa processing arrangements, which is another advantage. “This enables students to apply for a visa with lower requirements for evidence that needs to be shown such as eligible funds, eligible sponsors, etc. – this enables more students to apply to Australian universities,” he said.

Another advantage that Australia offers is the acceptance of partners / spouse of the student, allowing them to apply along with the primary applicant (main student). “It also enables the students’ partners to work in Australia,” Veeravalli said. The English language requirements (IELTS) for international students in Australia has also been relaxed by lowering the individual bands for each section from 6 to 5. However, the overall band should be 6.

Recently, Australia’s official migration trends for 2013-14 showed that India was the main source country for immigrants with 40,000 Indian nationals migrating to Australia in that period.

“A large number of preferred occupations (filled in Australia by skilled migrants) such as electronic engineers, telecommunications engineers, software developers, analyst programmers, developer programmers, network engineers and accountants are from India. Students from India choose such related courses. Areas like Melbourne (Victoria), Perth (Western Australia), Adelaide (South Australia) enable the existing permanent residents to sponsor their relatives if they belong to the above-mentioned professions,” Veeravalli said.

Australia’s business innovation and investment programme that was created in 2012 to attract high-quality investors and entrepreneurs to Australia, is finding takers in India. It includes the investor visa, the business innovation visa, the significant investor visa, and the newly-introduced premium investor visa.

This article is written by Ishani Duttagupta.
Source: The Economic Times, July 6, 2015

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on Monday restarted the negotiations with the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to build a consensus on the controversial IIM Bill, which the B-schools say will undermine their autonomy and vest sweeping powers with the ministry. Starting with IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), which has been the most forceful in its opposition to the bill, the ministry is looking to consult all 13 IIMs.

IIM-A Director Ashish Nanda, who held a about 90-minute meeting on Monday with MHRD officials in New Delhi, sounded a conciliatory note after the meeting. “There was a bump in between...but the ministry believes in the consultations,” Nanda said after the meeting. The meeting holds significance as it is seen as a sign of the ministry climbing down and a possible prelude to a redrafting of the IIM Bill. Although Nanda did not divulge details of his meeting, he cited news reports that the ministry was planning to rework the bill, terming it a good move.

Mint reported on Monday that the MHRD was likely to redraft the controversial draft legislation to include changes suggested by some of the premier business schools. With the bill likely to go back to the drafting stage, it is unlikely to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament that begins 21 July.

A MHRD official, requesting anonymity, said that the ministry is considering all options and redrafting the bill cannot be ruled out. The ministry may drop some contentious clauses, especially from Section 35 and Section 36, which were added without discussions with the IIMs and which empower the Union government to set rules for the elite B-schools.

Section 36 states, “The (IIM) board may, with the approval of the central government, by notification, make regulations not inconsistent with this Act and the rules made thereunder to carry out the provisions of this Act.” Section 35 empowers the central government, among other things, to “make rules, for carrying out the provisions of this Act”, ranging from the appointment of the IIM chairpersons to terms and conditions of their service.

The official cited above said any decision to this effect can only be taken after consultations with HRD minister Smriti Irani, who is travelling and expected in office only next week. IIM-A has been vehement in its resistance to the legislation, which it said last week would vest “sweeping centralization of authority” in the government. IIM-A Chairman A.M. Naik asked the ministry to take a fresh look at the bill and extend the deadline for public discourse on it up to 31 July, instead of the 24 June deadline set by the ministry. IIM-Lucknow Chairman J.J. Irani warned last week: “If the bill is passed in the current format, then there will be a revolt in the IIM system.”

IIMs have fiercely guarded their autonomy over the years. In 2012-13, when the bill was initially talked about, these B-schools opposed provisions like the formation of an IIM Council to oversee the functioning of the institutions.

India has 13 IIMs and six more will open in the current academic year. The existing 13 IIMs have an intake capacity of about 3,500 students. Nearly 200,000 aspirants vie for these seats through the Common Admission Test (CAT) every year.

Monday, June 29, 2015

The human resource development (HRD) ministry is likely to redraft the controversial Indian Institute of Management (IIM) bill to incorporate changes suggested by some of the premier business schools after criticism that the proposed legislation was designed to erode their autonomy and vest sweeping authority with the government. With the bill likely to go back to the drafting stage, it is unlikely to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament that begins on 21 July, two government officials said, requesting anonymity.The ministry’s retreat on the bill, which has been surrounded by controversy since being put in the public domain in the second week of June, signals a victory for the IIMs. The draft drew sharp criticism from the IIMs and industry, who claim the bill in its current form will turn the premier B-schools into mere “operating centres” with all major decisions being taken by the Union government. “IIMs are doing just fine. If a bill is required at all, it needs to be redrafted,” said Vamshidhar Guthikonda, an alumnus of IIM-Bangalore. The ministry needs to disclose why it needs to bring a bill to control IIMs, said Guthikonda.The HRD ministry, headed by Smriti Irani, is likely to extend the deadline for seeking public comments on the bill, following requests from IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM-Lucknow. IIM-A chairman A.M. Naik has asked the ministry to extend the deadline to 31 July. The ministry had earlier sought public comments and feedback between 9 June and 24 June.“If you look at the suggestions of some IIMs, especially IIM-A, then an extension is required. If the 31 July deadline is accepted, then it is very obvious that the bill cannot be tabled in the coming monsoon session,” said the first government official. In fact, it will take the ministry more time to go through the feedback that it has already received and incorporate some of them, the second official said.
“In a way, reworking the bill seems a must at this point of time. If we keep the controversies aside, still some suggestions need to be looked at with favour and this means reworking the bill,” the official said. IIMs have also complained that the draft that was discussed with them and the one that was put up for public comments were different. “If the bill is passed in the current format, then there will be a revolt in the IIM system,” J.J. Irani, chairman of the board of governors of IIM-Lucknow, said in an interview on Thursday.The first government official said that three sections — 3(k), 35 and 36 — will be given special attention as some IIMs have raised objections to them. These sections empower the Union government to set rules for IIMs. While the first clause reads: “Regulations mean regulations made by the board with the approval of the central government”, section 36 states: “The board may, with the approval of the central government, by notification, make regulations not inconsistent with this Act and the rules made there under to carry out the provisions of this Act”.The official said that IIM-A has asked to remove the phrase “with the approval of the central government” from section 3 and section 36 as they believe it will erode the autonomy of the institute. “The HRD ministry shall have a look at it. The HRD minister (Irani) was travelling and is back in Delhi now and the issue will be discussed at the minister’s level.”The IIMs also want section 35 to be removed as it was not discussed with them. Section 35 empowers the Union government, among other things, to “make rules, for carrying out the provisions of this Act”. “In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: (a) manner of appointment of chairperson under clause (a) of sub-section 2 of section 11; (b) such other powers and duties of the board under clause (x) of sub-section 2 of section 12; (c) the terms and conditions of service.”“Some of the IIMs feel that the bill should allow them the flexibility to fix compensation to its staff,” the first official said. There has been a growing clamour for IIMs to get more flexibility to decide on the compensation of teaching and administrative staff if they so deserve. There is a clause in the draft bill which proposes that IIMs seek central government permission for such a move.Naik, who is also group executive chairman of Larsen & Toubro Ltd, said in his 24 June letter to the minister that the present bill needs a re-look as it is favouring a “sweeping centralization of authority”.
The second official said some 14 different clauses were questioned by the IIMs. IIM-A director Ashish Nanda and IIM-Bangalore director Sushil Vachani said they are hopeful of resolving the issues after discussions with the ministry. The basic premises of the bill, including allowing degree-granting power to IIMs and facilitating excellence, will, however, remain unchanged, the government officials cited above said.
Source: Mint, June 29, 2015

Friday, June 26, 2015

The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the country’s best known business school, has flagged concern over the proposed IIM bill, saying it will lead to erosion of autonomy of the institutes and vest “sweeping centralization of authority” in the government. IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Lucknow, too, have expressed their worries over the draft bill.In a strongly worded letter to Union human resource development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani, A.M. Naik, chairman of the IIM-A board of governors and IIM-A Society, said, “I would like to convey deep reservations on the proposed IIM bill that has been put up for public comments". "If the bill is passed in the current format, then there will be a revolt in the IIM system,” J.J. Irani, chairman of the board of governors of IIM-Lucknow, said over the phone from Jamshedpur.
Naik and IIM-A director Ashish Nanda pointed out that the draft bill that had the approval of all IIMs, including IIM-A, was very different to the one that has been put up for discussion. “From the chairman’s selection to constitution of the board, from deciding the fee structure to formation of a department, even construction on campus, everything will require the government’s approval,” Nanda said. India has 13 IIMs and six more will open in the current academic year. The existing 13 IIMs have an intake capacity of around 3,500 students; nearly 200,000 aspirants vie for these seats through the Common Admission Test (CAT) every year.IIMs have fiercely guarded their autonomy over the years, successfully resisting an IIM bill that was proposed in 2012-13 with a provision for a council of the kind that oversees the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and is headed by the HRD minister. The provision for an IIM Council has been replaced in the latest draft bill with a proposal for a coordination forum to be headed by the minister. Naik said that while it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to develop 25 world-class institutes in India, the proposed bill will have the opposite effect.All hopes of developing IIMs as world-class institutes will be dashed as the new bill will take away the business schools’ autonomy and make for centralization of authority, Naik and Nanda said at a press conference on IIM-A’s campus on Thursday. “We are not against accountability but the government cannot micro-manage day-to-day affairs of IIMs,” Nanda said, adding that different IIMs are trying to work in different ways and innovate in order to excel but the new bill will take away the spirit of competition. The director said his vision of building IIM-A along the lines of Harvard Business School will not materialize if the bill is implemented. He, however, was “hopeful that the issue will be resolved through dialogue with the government”.

Naik, who is also the group executive chairman of Larsen & Toubro Ltd, in his letter referred to two particular clauses in the bill — sections 3(k) and 36 — saying these prescriptions will lead to “sweeping centralization of authority, currently held by individual IIM boards, with the central government”. While the first clause reads, “Regulations mean regulations made by the board with the approval of the central government”, the second states: “The board may, with the approval of the central government, by notification, make regulations not inconsistent with this Act and the rules made thereunder to carry out the provisions of this Act”.Naik’s letter holds significance as the HRD ministry has been pushing for the IIM bill, claiming it has held consultations and all stakeholders are on board. The ministry had not put the bill up for public discourse before sending it to the cabinet in March; the cabinet returned the bill asking the ministry to put it up for debate. IIM-A has also asked the HRD ministry to extend the public discourse till 31 July. The ministry on 9 June had asked for comments by 24 June.

J.J. Irani said the “purpose of bringing a bill was to give more freedom and independence to IIMs but the current bill with the addition of two sections — 35 and 36 — has turned all this on its head”. In section 35, for instance, the draft bill empowers the central government among other things to “make rules, for carrying out the provisions of this Act. In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: (a) manner of appointment of chairperson under clause (a) of sub-section 2 of Section 11; (b) such other powers and duties of the board under clause (x) of sub-section 2 of section 12; (c) the terms and conditions of service”.

Irani, a former managing director of Tata Steel Ltd, said the ministry is trying to “centralize the powers of the IIMs and control them”, which “will not be good” for the system. He said the intention of the bill as mentioned in the initial paragraphs of the draft is fine but the details go completely against that intention. He said all the leading IIMs are in touch with each other and are “opposing” the bill.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson of the board of governors of IIM-Bangalore, tweeted that the “draft IIM Bill 2015 compromises autonomy” and is “not in the spirit of government’s ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ maxim”. Ajit Balakrishnan, IIM-Calcutta chairman, did not respond to calls or a text message sent to his mobile phone. But a professor at the institute, on condition of anonymity, said the concern is over how the government will implement the bill.

Vamshidhar Guthikonda, an alumnus of IIM-Bangalore, accused the government of trying to micro-manage the IIMs and said a group of alumni from the institute had sent their feedback to the HRD ministry. “What is the ministry trying to fix when nothing is wrong with the top IIMs? The draft bill has come without enough consultation with alumni groups or industy leaders,” Guthikonda, from the 2000 batch, said.

IIM (Indian Institute of Management) is a divided parivar over the new draft bill moved by the government with some saying it will turn the institutes into "mere operating centres" with no autonomy while others have welcomed the provisions on grant of degrees instead of diplomas and the focus on research.

On Thursday, A M Naik, chairperson of the board of governors of IIM-Ahmedabad joined the institute's director Ashish Nanda and IIM-Bangalore director Sushil Vachani in protesting against the draft IIM bill. Naik, also chairperson of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, said the proposed bill will curtail "autonomy", reduce IIMs to "mere operating centres" and give the Centre "sweeping powers". He said the earlier draft agreed upon by IIMs and the HRD ministry was completely changed. Naik said the bill was floated suddenly and IIMs got to see it only now.

However, not everyone agreed with Naik. IIM-Raipur director B S Sahay fully supported the bill. "Without an Act of Parliament, we will not be able to grant degrees and conduct PhD programmes," he told TOI, adding that the fear of losing autonomy was misplaced.

Naik pointed out that as per the bill, each IIM will have to take "prior permission of the government in matters related to admissions, courses, fee structure, new building and regulating powers of the academic council". "Further, we will be required to take the government's permission if we want to form a new department in the interest of the institution, as if expertise for this is available elsewhere rather than with the institute," Naik said.

On his part, Sahay argued, "What is wrong in being accountable? If we spend public money, we better be answerable." At the helm of one of the new IIMs, Sahay said he had faced no interference from the HRD ministry. For Sahay, a far more pressing reason for having a legislation was that it would help IIMs give proper degrees and expand further. "The flagship post-graduate programme is a diploma programme. It should be a degree programme so that IIM degree is accepted uniformly," he said. Sahay also said IIMs should have a strong PhD programme like many prestigious international management institutes. "In IIMs, students do Fellow in Management Programme (FMP). So what? When you do PhD, it is different," he added.

The HRD ministry is closely watching the protest by IIM directors. An official said, "It is the change in the bill that has created problems. The earlier version had near-approval of the IIM establishment." He agreed that the bill, first proposed during Arjun Singh's tenure in UPA-1, emanated as a tool to control IIMs which were not toeing the ministry's line on the fee issue. "The threat worked and IIMs fell in line. During UPA-2, the bill was put in cold storage but it has resurfaced now," he said, adding that the key reason for the legislation was to give more teeth to IIMs so that they could award degrees and PhD.

The official gave the example of Institutes of Technology Act which governs IITs. "How has their autonomy been compromised? IIMs should give their views to the ministry. It has not been finalized yet. We are seeking public opinion and are open to change," he said.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

A new wave of startups are springing up across the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) with faculty members turning entrepreneurs. Dozens of faculty members from IITs in Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kharagpur and Hyderabad are now working on startups either by themselves or collaboratively with students.

Ravikrishnan Elangovan (33), joined IIT Delhi's department of biochemical engineering and biotechnology as assistant professor in 2010. He met Vivekanandan Perumal and Shalini Gupta, both of whom had also just joined the institute as faculty members after their post-doctoral degrees from the US. The trio wanted to develop a solution for typhoid diagnosis, put up a proposal with the department of biotechnology in 2013 and got funded.

Faculty floating new companies is an integral part of the academia-entrepreneurship intersection in the US, especially in places like Stanford and MIT. But the trend is slowly gaining momentum here.

Nineteen startups with faculty as shareholders were founded in 2014-15 in IIT-Madras, as compared to 11 such companies in 2013-14. "We are witnessing an increasing trend of joint collaboration between faculty members and their current and graduated students, with research being translated into commercial ventures/companies," says Tamaswati Ghosh, CEO, IIT-M Incubation Cell.

IIT-Madras has so far spawned 16 startups that have been founded or co-founded by faculty. Thirty of the 89 tech start-ups birthed at the institute have faculty members as founders or minority shareholders.

iKen Solutions by RM Sonar from School of Management, Zeus Numerix by GR Shevere from Department of Aerospace Engineering and Vegayan Systems by Girish Saraf are some examples of faculty-promoted start-ups that graduated out of SINE. Sensibol, NanoSniff Technologies and kWatt Solutions are among such companies currently being incubated at SINE. "There has been an increase in faculty interest in entrepreneurship ventures," says PVM Rao, professor, mechanical engineering department of IIT-Delhi.

Investors find it easier to trust faculty-led start-ups. They also play a key role in creating a culture of entrepreneurship, encouraging more students to take the same route. "The collaborative entrepreneurial venture provides a space for students and faculty to combine their perspectives, lean on each other, and build something larger than what would otherwise be possible by either party," says Anil Prabhakar, professor, IIT-Madras, department of electrical engineering. He is also the founder of Unilumen Photonics and co-founder of Enability Foundation For Rehabilitation.

At IIT-Kharagpur, though the first such registration for a joint venture between a faculty member and a student happened way back in 2007, such instances have gained momentum only recently. "For the past two to three years, we're getting registrations from three to four such companies each year," says PP Das, head of Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship at IIT-Kharagpur. One more such company — in the Internet security business — is likely to get registered next month.

"Research can't be taken to people unless it's entrepreneurial," says Das. "Most of these ventures are in information and communication technology, education through IT, or making educational materials or software development consulting. The remaining are in healthcare or in biotechnology."

Even the newer IITs are witnessing a similar trend. IIT-Hyderabad has two successful startups which are joint ventures between students and faculty — Plianto Technologies and AR solutions. A few more are in pipeline, says Sobhan Babu, professor, department of computer science and engineering at IIT-Hyderabad and founder of Plianto Technologies.

Infosys co-founder 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan and his wife Sudha have set up three research chairs at the city-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc), continuing their push for brain research in the country's top institutions.

The first of the three chairs — K Vaidyanathan Distinguished Chair named after Sudha's father — was launched on Monday. Each chair will be set up with a corpus of Rs. 100 million funded by Pratiksha Trust, a charitable organisation Kris founded with his wife.

The Pratiksha Trust has endowed three similar chairs at IIT-Madras, where Kris studied. The 60-year old billionaire hopes the chairs can bring distinguished researchers in the areas of computational neuroscience, machine learning, data science and neuromorphic engineering to the IISc to enable collaborative research.

"I hope the launching of these distinguished chair positions will help push the frontiers in these areas. It would be excellent if the collaborations lead to highly creative, new computing architectures and algorithms inspired by the functioning of the brain. These three chairs along with three more at IIT Madras will create critical mass in the area of neuromorphic computing and machine learning in India," Kris said.

The K Vaidyanathan Chair at the IISc will be occupied by Shihab Shamma, a professor at the Institute of Systems Research of the University of Maryland. An expert in neuromorphic computing, neural signal processing and representation of speech signals in the brain, Shamma holds a PhD from Stanford University.

"I am sure these distinguished chair positions will add a new dimension to research collaboration in key strategic areas between IISc researchers and star contributors to these areas anywhere in the world," IISc Director Anurag Kumar said. At IIT-Madras, two of the three chairs — Prof Mahabala Chair and N R Narayana Murthy Chair — on computational brain research have been launched.

Both chairs are occupied by US-based scientists of Indian origin. In early 2014, the Infosys cofounder announced a Rs. 2.25-billion grant over a period of 10 years to develop a Centre for Brain Research (CBR) at the IISc. This philanthropic act is widely-considered one of the biggest contributions to pure science in the country, and one of the single largest donations by an individual to the IISc.

A few months later, Gopalakrishnan doled out Rs. 110 million to foster a partnership between the CBR and Carnegie Mellon University.

At a time when 31,000 students battle for 2,200-odd seats in Tamil Nadu this year, the state government's efforts to increase the number of MBBS seats have come a cropper. After an inspection in January, the Medical Council of India (MCI), the apex regulatory body for medical education in the country, cited faculty shortage and poor infrastructure facilities to reject TN's request to increase the seats from 150 to 250 each in Madurai, Tirunelveli and Coimbatore medical colleges. It also turned down Kanyakumari Government Medical College's request to increase seats from 100 to 150.

"In the recruitment conducted by Medical Services Recruitment Board at the end of 2014, only around 300 applications were received for the post of 1,727 assistant surgeons. Hardly 100 joined. Still there are more than 1,500 vacancies for specialists," said Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association President Dr K Senthil.

Even if the state government takes immediate steps to rectify the issue, it will take a few years to get adequate specialists, he said. "It will take time for the existing faculty members to get promoted to associate and assistant professor cadres," he said.

Medical experts said infrastructure facilities could be improved by pumping in more money but it would not be easy to increase the number of teachers in medical colleges in the near future. For example, they said, the Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College, which was started three years ago, was managing with just 50% of the required faculty in departments like obstetrics and gynaecology. Drawing up a long-term strategy and executing it alone will help, they said.

While the shortage of teaching faculty in the Coimbatore college was 17.98%, in Tirunelveli it was 16.73%, Madurai 14.60% and Kanyakumari 18.2%. There are plenty of vacancies in resident doctor categories as well in these colleges. For example, the shortage in this category in Tirunelveli is 26.59 %, while it is 10.20% in Kanyakumari. In October 2014, when the first inspection was conducted by MCI, Madurai had the worst shortage of 30%.

A senior health department official said it was an open secret that the authorities were managing the situation by adopting ad hoc measures like deputation. "Whenever there is an inspection, specialists are deployed from other colleges to evade the wrath of MCI. However, if MCI takes cognizance of the issue, the individual doctors will be in trouble as they stand the risk of being disqualified," he added.

While opening new colleges was welcome, the government should also focus on strengthening the existing institutions, said Doctors' Association for Social Equality general secretary Dr G R Ravindranath. "The important strategy to address the teaching faculty problem is to promote non-clinical courses," he said. Many people shunned teaching as it involved long work hours and the pay was low, he said. "The government should increase their salaries and offer promotions," said Dr Ravindranath.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

The world's first kidney transplant university in Ahmedabad, built by Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) at the cost of Rs 50 crore, was inaugurated by chief minister Anandiben Patel on Saturday.

IKDRC director Dr H L Trivedi will be university's chancellor for five years and IKDRC deputy director Veena Shah will be the vice-chancellor. He said that the university, expected to come up on more than 25-acre land near IKDRC, will offer courses in dialysis technology, anesthesia, clinical nursing, nurse technicians, immunology, biochemistry and other vital organs that are affected due to chronic kidney disease.

The varsity will prepare documentary-based science evidence on transplants and new-age techniques. He said: "We'll conduct research programs in diabetic nephropathy, immunology, cell infusion, cell development and other key areas."

The university will draw research faculty and students from across Indian, American and Canadian universities. Sources said IKDRC is also in negotiation with the health department to use its buildings as laboratory, library and admin office.

Addressing the event, Patel said: "The varsity will help bridge the gap of professors' shortage in the state. Gujarat will also get three new universities this year like Public Health University, Guru Gobind Singh University for tribals in Godhra and Narsinh Mehta University in Saurashtra."

Saturday, June 13, 2015

If American corporations can't hire H1-Bs, they can hire H1-wannabes. That in essence will be the outcome of the Obama administration's move to allow tens of thousands international students to stay on in the United States for up to six years after they finish their college degree.

The far-reaching proposal, which will be of interests to a large body of students from India who come to the US for higher education, comes amid continuing resentment in some American quarters about "low-wage" foreigners taking up jobs as illustrated in the fracas at Disneyworld, where native-born US workers, seen as opponents of free trade, are fuming about being displaced by guest workers from India in a trend broadly known as outsourcing, leading to tension in the world's best-known amusement park and an icon of Americana.

On Thursday, the anti-outsourcing brigade, gathering steam in an election season and supported by US lawmakers who back their protectionist stand, persuaded the US Labor Department to open an investigation into two India-based firms, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), for alleged violations of rules for visas for foreign technology workers under contracts they held with Southern California Edison, an electric utility. As in the case of Disneyworld, the power company is said to have laid off hundreds of US tech workers after they were forced to train workers from India under the H1-B visa program for guest workers.

But while anti-outsourcing groups were trying to shut down - or at least narrow — the H1-B gates, the Obama administration began the process to open another avenue to retain more high-skilled immigrant work force that many US corporations and experts say is needed in a country that simply does not graduate enough native-born STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) workers.

According to new regulations proposed by the administration and submitted before the Senate Judiciary Committee, students with STEM degrees can stay on in the US for a total of six years under the Optional Training Program (OPT) - three years after finishing an undergraduate program, and then if need be, another three years after a graduate program. This would give them as much work time in the US as foreign guest workers get under the H1-B program.

At present, OPT for international students who finish either an undergraduate or graduate program from a government-certified educational institution in the US is 12 months to 29 months depending on whether their degree is non-STEM or STEM. Typically, graduating students, a large number (upwards of 300,000) from China and India, use the OPT timeframe to land jobs, or internships leading to jobs, during which period employers usually sponsor them for an H1-B visa if their performance is good.

But with the increasing demand for H1-B visas, partly because many are cornered by outsourcing bodyshops, many foreign graduates who don't make the cut in the lottery system are forced to return to their home countries, much to the dismay of free-traders who believe the US is best served when the students it educates are retained in the country.

So the new proposal will essentially expand that window of opportunity to land a job and get an H1-B visa for up to six years, ensuring that a student who comes to the US to study is not under pressure to return. The new proposals, already under fire from lawmakers such as Chuck Grassley, comes on the heels of another Obama administration initiative to grant work permits to H-4 visa holders (spouses of H1-B) who meet certain eligibility requirements.

"The proposed new regulations, while still being internally discussed, are irresponsible and dangerous considering the Government Accountability Office report issued in March 2014 finding that the (OPT) program was full of inefficiencies, susceptible to fraud, and that the Department was not adequately overseeing it," Grassley complained a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.